[Finance] How much savings do you have ?

[BNthree]

None but that's cos we're paying off mortgage as quick as possible and paying extra into pensions.

 

[bluenitsuj]

Between £1000 and £100000

 

[Exile]

Between £1000 and £100000

Ooh, spooky - that's EXACTLY the same as me

 

[Weststander]

A lot until the divorce, when, in a fit of insanity/depression, I gave it all away.

.... but at least you then had the freedom to pursue the likes of Rachel Burden and play your Smiths/New Order records as loud as you like. Bliss.

 

[Butch Willykins]

A decent 6 figures in the pension pot and still 25yrs to fill it. So not too worried there.

Personal savings have been savagely hit by house move and 2nd child (therefore she's not working) in last 12 months. In fact my 4yr old has more in her ISA than me!

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Each month, I have a spreadsheet showing our incomings i.e what I and the Mrs earn, plus child benefit. On the other side is all our outgoings, Gas/Electric, water, petrol, our direct debits etc. I also set out what as a family we will spend on going out that month. Anything left is over is savings and goes in a ISA.

Its a bit micro management, but it has meant that as a family we never have had outstanding credit cards, with good savings.

I don't know how people manage their money unless there is some kind of structure.

Snap! I have a spreadsheet that I started in 1998 and shows all my income and expenditure for the last 20 years as well as keeping track of savings, ISA’s, Bonds, SIPP, other pensions and property equity. It also projects forwards 20 years based on expected income, assets and outgoings over that period.

 

[Whitechapel]

About £8.60, but Initiative Q may well change that.

I agree, it’s fine that I have no savings because I’m going to be getting 800,000 Q’s in a few years so it doesn’t matter.

 

[Perkino]

We are saving for an extension so do have some money but we are limiting ourselves to only 1 meal out /take away each month, and we only spend money on petrol, bills and at the supermarket without discussing the purchase

 

[BN9 BHA]

 

[spongy]

Possibly the best thing I ever did money-wise, quite early on, was to setup a separate bank account that I moved cash into every month on pay day for all the things that were either annual bills or to cover things that could happen from time to time. The amount I saved was equal to what each of those things cost a year divided by 12. So, for example (and some of these numbers are just there for illustration)...

- Car Insurance - £30
- Car Tax - £20
- MOT and car maintenance - £30
- TV Licence - £10
- Christmas (presents and general increased expenditure) - £50
- Other stuff going wrong - £50

etc etc

Now, I fully appreciate that if things are tight, it may be easier said than done to get this up and running, but it meant that I was constantly saving for things that I'd need to pay for, but I wouldn't have one of those "I could really do without the car needing new tyres as the washing machine needs repairing too" months.

I'd keep track of each individual "pot" within the account, and I'd often find that one pot may go negative but that would be offset by other pots being positive. At the end of each calendar year, I'd asses whether I was saving enough or too much for each individual thing, and adjust if required.

It really made a difference when it came to money stresses, at a time when I didn't have much spare money.

We have a "bills" account. Alongside our joint account. We know what all our bills are.

Rent
Council tax
Gas
Electric
Water
Broadband
BT tv
Mobile phone x2
Car tax x2
Petrol
Diesel
Car insurance x2
Her car H.P.
My ST
Tv license
Her contact lenses
Her glasses
Childcare

And the rest I can't remember

We both put in enough to cover everything. We even over pay on gas and electric to cover the winter months.

Depending on whether I've done 40 or 50 hours overtime in the month we can afford for me to do an occasional away day.

After we've put that aside we have maybe 400 disposable. And out of that comes food.

Aldi is our saviour so we can feed ourselves and stock the freezer for 150 a month but still need perishables such as milk, butter, fruit etc.

That gives us about 250 to spend. Not a lot with a 4 year old that needs entertaining every weekend.

We live to our last £10 in the bank and that regularly has to last us 3-4 days.

We've got nearly 4k on credit cards after our last few emergencies but managing to pay off the minimum amounts and balance transferring every year to keep at 0%.

I've read the whole of this thread before replying to this and sat here in tears where ive gone wrong in my life and I could seriously slit my ****ing wrists right now.

I turned 40 last month. I still don't own my own home. The truth is now hitting home that I never will. And it kills me. I have a wonderful 4 year old little girl right now cuddled up next to me on the sofa asleep. And right now i am haven't got a stable home for her.

Last year we had to do the whole school application thing. And got our preferred choice 250 yards down the road. Then in january our landlord told us he was selling the flat we were in so had to move out. It turned our world upside down. We had a private landlord so only paid 800 for a deposit. We've had to find somewhere else to live using an agency and had to find a months rent in advance + 6 weeks deposit + over 400 in fees.

We lived there for 4 years and paid nearly 50k off his mortgage for him. Then had to leave. We're now 8 months into this new place. And will pay over 12k off this blokes mortgage.

I should be paying my own but I can't get any capital for a deposit.

There's that wonderful "help to buy isa" so if you put 200 a month in the govt puts in 50.

Average house price round here is 300k for a shite 2 bed bungalow. So even if I could save 200 a month I will have a deposit in 10 years. If house prices are frozen until then. But I'll be 50 years old and unable to get a mortgage. I don't have any inheritance coming my way either to help out. I'm hoping on an on going PPI claim to hopefully clear the credit cards.

I work 12 hours a day to earn overtime and currently do between 40-60 hours a month over to give us a bit of cash.

Life is ****ing great isn't it?

This post may come across a bit bitter and jealous. But to be quite frank I am. I'd give anything to have the security in my life that some of you have.

 

[Madafwo]

Naff all accessible at the moment but I'm paying about £400 a month into my pension. Once the loft conversion is done and we decide whether the wife is going to go back to work I'll look into putting some money aside each month.

I'm terrible with money as if I have some I will spend it and on a lot of occasions I spent more than I was earning, lucky to have cleared the personal debt pretty much, just some on a 0% credit card and the mortgage left to go. I'm considering letting my wife deal with the finances if she doesn't go back to work, she's really very good at it.

 

[pauli cee]

Agreed. 100%

I was EXTREMELY fortunate to have got a helping loan from both sets of parents when we bought 6 years ago(now both repaid). I have NO idea how I would have done it without them.

And (without sounding old) I now look at the 20 somethings and really feel for them. I needed £18k for my deposit....someone would now need £28k for the same property. How is the feasibly possible without help?

I went to Uni, got the SCARE of my life when I racked up debt after debt and occurred overdraft fees constantly and lived on about £20 a week for everything. It was horrible.

Now, I've gone completely the other way. I have my next 6 months forcasted on a spreadsheet, I check my bank account every day, update the spreadsheet, tick off when DD's have been paid, adjust my spending money accordingly etc etc. Sure, I've gone further than others would but it's great to know I'm aware of my situation at all times and it makes me more annoyed we weren't taught things like this at school but were taught how to make a coleslaw.

I'm now paying off a combination of wedding, honeymoon, new baby costs + the downside my wifes decreased income so currently I'm on a debt repayment mission of my two 0% credit cards.

To be fair, there is a lot to be said about making a decent coleslaw

 

[juliant]

Without intentionally sounding like an arse..... The maximum one is allowed to hold in premium bonds is £50k.

Correct. Buy who said they were all under 1 account?

 

[Weststander]

We have a "bills" account. Alongside our joint account. We know what all our bills are.

Rent
Council tax
Gas
Electric
Water
Broadband
BT tv
Mobile phone x2
Car tax x2
Petrol
Diesel
Car insurance x2
Her car H.P.
My ST
Tv license
Her contact lenses
Her glasses
Childcare

And the rest I can't remember

We both put in enough to cover everything. We even over pay on gas and electric to cover the winter months.

Depending on whether I've done 40 or 50 hours overtime in the month we can afford for me to do an occasional away day.

After we've put that aside we have maybe 400 disposable. And out of that comes food.

Aldi is our saviour so we can feed ourselves and stock the freezer for 150 a month but still need perishables such as milk, butter, fruit etc.

That gives us about 250 to spend. Not a lot with a 4 year old that needs entertaining every weekend.

We live to our last £10 in the bank and that regularly has to last us 3-4 days.

We've got nearly 4k on credit cards after our last few emergencies but managing to pay off the minimum amounts and balance transferring every year to keep at 0%.

I've read the whole of this thread before replying to this and sat here in tears where ive gone wrong in my life and I could seriously slit my ****ing wrists right now.

I turned 40 last month. I still don't own my own home. The truth is now hitting home that I never will. And it kills me. I have a wonderful 4 year old little girl right now cuddled up next to me on the sofa asleep. And right now i am haven't got a stable home for her.

Last year we had to do the whole school application thing. And got our preferred choice 250 yards down the road. Then in january our landlord told us he was selling the flat we were in so had to move out. It turned our world upside down. We had a private landlord so only paid 800 for a deposit. We've had to find somewhere else to live using an agency and had to find a months rent in advance + 6 weeks deposit + over 400 in fees.

We lived there for 4 years and paid nearly 50k off his mortgage for him. Then had to leave. We're now 8 months into this new place. And will pay over 12k off this blokes mortgage.

I should be paying my own but I can't get any capital for a deposit.

There's that wonderful "help to buy isa" so if you put 200 a month in the govt puts in 50.

Average house price round here is 300k for a shite 2 bed bungalow. So even if I could save 200 a month I will have a deposit in 10 years. If house prices are frozen until then. But I'll be 50 years old and unable to get a mortgage. I don't have any inheritance coming my way either to help out. I'm hoping on an on going PPI claim to hopefully clear the credit cards.

I work 12 hours a day to earn overtime and currently do between 40-60 hours a month over to give us a bit of cash.

Life is ****ing great isn't it?

This post may come across a bit bitter and jealous. But to be quite frank I am. I'd give anything to have the security in my life that some of you have.

You’re actually living like so many people I know through family, friends and work. Possibly a third to a half of families. People flog their cars altogether when they breakdown, topup their bank current account with drawn credit card cash to prevent going overdrawn, payday loans, etc.

The NSC anecdotes here are a very unrepresentative sample of people in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, who perhaps run businesses, have senior positions in the latter stages of a career or are retired. Also, some have mentioned coming into money through parents passing away; this normally happens where the recipients aren’t young themselves.

In Brighton and Sussex, your financial predicament is common place.

I can think of a few long term political solutions .... which aren’t marxist!

 

[dazzer6666]

You’re actually living like so many people I know through family, friends and work. Possibly a third to a half of families. People flog their cars altogether when they breakdown, topup their bank current account with drawn credit card cash to prevent going overdrawn, payday loans, etc.

The NSC anecdotes here are a very unrepresentative sample of people in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, who perhaps run businesses, have senior positions in the latter stages of a career or are retired. Also, some have mentioned coming into money through parents passing away; this normally happens where the recipients aren’t young themselves.

In Brighton and Sussex, your financial predicament is common place.

I can think of a few long term political solutions .... which aren’t marxist!

Spot on. Not sure what the solution is but it’s desperate that so many hardworking people with families are struggling

 

[LVGull]

We have a "bills" account. Alongside our joint account. We know what all our bills are.

Rent
Council tax
Gas
Electric
Water
Broadband
BT tv
Mobile phone x2
Car tax x2
Petrol
Diesel
Car insurance x2
Her car H.P.
My ST
Tv license
Her contact lenses
Her glasses
Childcare

And the rest I can't remember

We both put in enough to cover everything. We even over pay on gas and electric to cover the winter months.

Depending on whether I've done 40 or 50 hours overtime in the month we can afford for me to do an occasional away day.

After we've put that aside we have maybe 400 disposable. And out of that comes food.

Aldi is our saviour so we can feed ourselves and stock the freezer for 150 a month but still need perishables such as milk, butter, fruit etc.

That gives us about 250 to spend. Not a lot with a 4 year old that needs entertaining every weekend.

We live to our last £10 in the bank and that regularly has to last us 3-4 days.

We've got nearly 4k on credit cards after our last few emergencies but managing to pay off the minimum amounts and balance transferring every year to keep at 0%.

I've read the whole of this thread before replying to this and sat here in tears where ive gone wrong in my life and I could seriously slit my ****ing wrists right now.

I turned 40 last month. I still don't own my own home. The truth is now hitting home that I never will. And it kills me. I have a wonderful 4 year old little girl right now cuddled up next to me on the sofa asleep. And right now i am haven't got a stable home for her.

Last year we had to do the whole school application thing. And got our preferred choice 250 yards down the road. Then in january our landlord told us he was selling the flat we were in so had to move out. It turned our world upside down. We had a private landlord so only paid 800 for a deposit. We've had to find somewhere else to live using an agency and had to find a months rent in advance + 6 weeks deposit + over 400 in fees.

We lived there for 4 years and paid nearly 50k off his mortgage for him. Then had to leave. We're now 8 months into this new place. And will pay over 12k off this blokes mortgage.

I should be paying my own but I can't get any capital for a deposit.

There's that wonderful "help to buy isa" so if you put 200 a month in the govt puts in 50.

Average house price round here is 300k for a shite 2 bed bungalow. So even if I could save 200 a month I will have a deposit in 10 years. If house prices are frozen until then. But I'll be 50 years old and unable to get a mortgage. I don't have any inheritance coming my way either to help out. I'm hoping on an on going PPI claim to hopefully clear the credit cards.

I work 12 hours a day to earn overtime and currently do between 40-60 hours a month over to give us a bit of cash.

Life is ****ing great isn't it?

This post may come across a bit bitter and jealous. But to be quite frank I am. I'd give anything to have the security in my life that some of you have.

You have a stable relationship and lovely daughter. Money isn’t everything in life, and you never know what tomorrow will bring. Keep your chin up.

 

[Springal]

Decent amount for someone my age. I’ve been very fortunate with jobs and also getting a mental 5 year tracker mortgage (0.2% above base rate) that was pre crash so paid the higher rate for 2 months then £85 a month for 4 years 10 months while saving the £400 a month difference. Really helped me kick on with the property ladder.

My mortgage broker was / is Richard Tiltman and we have a laugh about it still now!

My salary is 50% commission based so can be very lumpy, but generally I try and save 25% of my take home a year. Plan is to start building towards an early semi retirement in my mid 50s which is a long way off so always conscious of what life might throw at me in the mean time.

Incidentally most my savings are tied up in Stock/Share ISAs so quite concerned about impact of Brexit...

 

[Weststander]

Spot on. Not sure what the solution is but it’s desperate that so many hardworking people with families are struggling

Building far more homes, with a generous proportion of affordables, would me a massive start. Cut the planning redtape (but still protect genuine greenbelt, ancient flora, fauna). Despite the bitchy leftwing comments on crap sites such as the Argus, affordables are far, far cheaper per month than paying full whack or higher private rents, and the acquirer gets a brand new, warm home.

Getting the minimum wages levels up significantly as soon as possible.

IMO these would change lives, far more than people getting het up about income tax cuts ... they can never amount to much, due to the vast cost.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

Any rainy day money has been taken with solicitors and barristers fees after knob head of my daughters ex tried to lay claim to my grand daughter. Extra expenditure would include the cctv for when he and his loony mother try to set foot over here again.......would have been cheaper for a hitman.......so, no savings at present

 

[Cotton Socks]

We have a "bills" account. Alongside our joint account. We know what all our bills are.

Rent
Council tax
Gas
Electric
Water
Broadband
BT tv
Mobile phone x2
Car tax x2
Petrol
Diesel
Car insurance x2
Her car H.P.
My ST
Tv license
Her contact lenses
Her glasses
Childcare

And the rest I can't remember

We both put in enough to cover everything. We even over pay on gas and electric to cover the winter months.

Depending on whether I've done 40 or 50 hours overtime in the month we can afford for me to do an occasional away day.

After we've put that aside we have maybe 400 disposable. And out of that comes food.

Aldi is our saviour so we can feed ourselves and stock the freezer for 150 a month but still need perishables such as milk, butter, fruit etc.

That gives us about 250 to spend. Not a lot with a 4 year old that needs entertaining every weekend.

We live to our last £10 in the bank and that regularly has to last us 3-4 days.

We've got nearly 4k on credit cards after our last few emergencies but managing to pay off the minimum amounts and balance transferring every year to keep at 0%.

I've read the whole of this thread before replying to this and sat here in tears where ive gone wrong in my life and I could seriously slit my ****ing wrists right now.

I turned 40 last month. I still don't own my own home. The truth is now hitting home that I never will. And it kills me. I have a wonderful 4 year old little girl right now cuddled up next to me on the sofa asleep. And right now i am haven't got a stable home for her.

Last year we had to do the whole school application thing. And got our preferred choice 250 yards down the road. Then in january our landlord told us he was selling the flat we were in so had to move out. It turned our world upside down. We had a private landlord so only paid 800 for a deposit. We've had to find somewhere else to live using an agency and had to find a months rent in advance + 6 weeks deposit + over 400 in fees.

We lived there for 4 years and paid nearly 50k off his mortgage for him. Then had to leave. We're now 8 months into this new place. And will pay over 12k off this blokes mortgage.

I should be paying my own but I can't get any capital for a deposit.

There's that wonderful "help to buy isa" so if you put 200 a month in the govt puts in 50.

Average house price round here is 300k for a shite 2 bed bungalow. So even if I could save 200 a month I will have a deposit in 10 years. If house prices are frozen until then. But I'll be 50 years old and unable to get a mortgage. I don't have any inheritance coming my way either to help out. I'm hoping on an on going PPI claim to hopefully clear the credit cards.

I work 12 hours a day to earn overtime and currently do between 40-60 hours a month over to give us a bit of cash.

Life is ****ing great isn't it?

This post may come across a bit bitter and jealous. But to be quite frank I am. I'd give anything to have the security in my life that some of you have.

We're the same as you, same age, absolutely no savings, credit cards maxed, lived in the same rented house for years (have previously done the landlord selling and have to move with young kid,etc) and have paid the purchase price on this place in rent. Basically i'm just saying that you're not the only one in the situation, so don't think that you are. You haven't gone wrong anywhere, you've got a 4 year old and money can't buy that kind of two way love.